


Remembering Leo

by Erikthonius



Series: The Collected Funeral Musings of Nico di Angelo [2]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Funeral Service, Grief/Mourning, M/M, So sorry (killing off a favorite character)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:27:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22320289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erikthonius/pseuds/Erikthonius
Summary: Nico recalls becoming friends with Leo as he presides over his funeral.
Relationships: Calypso/Leo Valdez, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Series: The Collected Funeral Musings of Nico di Angelo [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1599559
Comments: 1
Kudos: 23





	Remembering Leo

**Author's Note:**

> This is set in the future. As with most of this series, I haven't worked out the chronology in fine detail, so I may have to go back and revise as other stories are added.
> 
> What follows are notes for the book “The Memoirs of Nico di Angelo,’ which Will and Hazel convinced him to write as a way of dealing with his duty, as the son of Hades, to preside over the funeral rites of so many of his friends and colleagues Often, he finds some comfort and therapeutic benefits in recollecting his friends’ lives.

Leo and I were not close at first. I found him annoying, his boisterous manner, his childish jokes, and in particular his attitude toward Hazel. That last part was just unsavory, not that Hazel couldn’t take care of herself. Then, the obnoxious little stronzo went and got himself killed. And to make matters worse, there was something wrong about the death, which was just offensive.

Needless to say, when that scroll dropped out of the sky announcing Leo’s return, I took great delight in organizing the “let’s punch Leo” line. And yet over time…

Certainly living with Will mellowed my feelings toward Leo as well as everything else in the world. It started at Percy and Annabeth’s engagement party. Strictly speaking, that wasn’t true. When I gave the oration for Jason, Leo was there. I’d never seen the boy so somber and still. He just stood there looking like he would shatter if he moved an inch, and afterward, as Jake and Harley led him off with Calypso holding his hand, his eyes met mine for just a second, and for that instant, I could sense an ocean of sorrow in those brown eyes.

Then, at the engagement party, Leo was being his usual loud, slightly inappropriate self, Calypso barely keeping him in check, but at some point, Will and Calypso had gotten into a long, overly technical discussion over ancient mystical healing techniques. This resulted in a “when you’re in town you must come by for dinner” offer. 

The evening started awkwardly, but after the meal, when Will and Calypso resumed the shop talk that neither of us wanted to follow, we retired to the kitchen. Leo praised my lasagne bolognese, and I returned the compliment about the tres leches cake. Then Leo wisecracked that the dessert would probably put Frank in the infirmary, and I couldn’t stop smirking about it. Leo continued to joke, referring to us as the two short demigod hotties. This wasn’t quite my style, but it kept the mood light, and we found ourselves getting along surprisingly well. (I have to admit that the excellent tequila that Leo had brought certainly didn’t hurt.)

We danced around light topics until Leo admitted that on the Argo II, he’d avoided me because I frightened him somewhat. I apologized for it, explaining that I was in a very dark space at that point in my life (oh yeah, he had a wise-ass crack about that). By and by, the topic of Jason’s memorial came up. Leo tried to keep the jokes coming, but I could see something that I wished I’d known sooner. Just as I’d used my death glare and overall son-of-Hades creepiness, Leo used his wisecracking as a shield for a very fragile inner self. When Will and Calypso came into the kitchen, they were surprised to see us sitting quietly at the table, but smiling at each other.

We traded dinners at each other’s houses, and although their styles were quite different from ours, a solid bond of friendship grew between us. (I secretly enjoyed it when Leo referred to me as hermano. It reminded me of Reyna, whom I didn’t see as often as I’d have liked, because of her new duties.)

As time passed, Will and I were deeply touched by the collection of mechanical toys that Leo showered our children with. Bianca took great delight in the wind-up cars she had, courtesy of Uncle Leo, and the twins, Lee and Michael, loved their collection of automata.

When Sammy was born and showed that he’d inherited his mother’s talent for singing, Will made sure that he could take voice lessons from ‘Uncle’ Austin. Then, our first-borns were a little older, we were all so proud that Bianca and Sammy were teamed up for their first quest together.

All in all, through the years a closeness had developed, and as I officiated over one friend’s funeral after another, I became grateful that Leo and Calypso both managed (in spite of their tendency to find trouble) to survive long enough for Leo to be “abuelo.” It was funny to see that head full of thick brown curls turn white and thin and those bright eyes become surrounded by wrinkles, as he dandled his grandson, Telegonus on his knee. Calypso had gone grey, and her face was lined (we’d wondered whether she’d age, given her birth as a Titan, but it appeared that she’d left immortality behind on Ogygia).

And then it happened. After years of keeping monsters at bay (cyclopes in particular were fond of attacking their workshop in spite of the number of them that Leo and Calypso had sent to Tartarus), a sphinx attacked them out of the blue. They had just come back from seeing their grandson Telegonus’s class play when the monster dropped from the sky. Calypso managed to lob a bottle of Greek fire at the beast’s face. The creature tore at Leo’s chest with its lion claws as he threw a small fireball at it. The Greek fire ignited, reducing the monster to glittering dust, but the damage had been done. None of Calypso’s healing magic could do anything. Leo breathed his last.

I felt my friend’s death as I’d felt so many before. I took Will by the hand and together we travelled to Calypso’s side to offer her what comfort we could. She looked so frail and worn as we promised her that Leo would be given the full honors that he deserved.

Later that week I stood before the crowd at Camp Half Blood. It was decided that Leo would be interred behind Bunker Nine, as he’d mentored so many of his Hephaestus brothers and sisters there. His son and grandson were there, as well as demigods and legacies, both from Camp Half Blood and Camp Jupiter. He was still honored and remembered as the one who’d saved them all from Gaea. Calypso was seated next to him on a bronze chair. She looked so frail, wrapped in a black cloak. She nodded at me and I began Leo’s service.

“Friends, we are gathered here to remember a fallen comrade. There is no doubt that he is in Elysium now (my Underworld senses gave a tug of confirmation), a true hero, but that is not how he would wish to be remembered. Let us not think of Leo Valdez, the hero, let us remember him as the big McShizzle!”

There was a roar from the crowd, led by Cabin Nine. “To the big McShizzle!”

I began by saying that his first funeral was done incorrectly, which was why it hadn’t stuck, but this one would be done correctly and launched into a series of those corny jokes that Leo always used to make. At first the assembled crowd was a little shocked by the lack of solemnity, but they realized that this was the right and fitting way to remember their fallen comrade.

All the while Calypso had not moved at all, but when I had finished, she rose slowly. She leaned over to me and said in a quiet voice, “Thank you for giving him the service he always wanted.”

I hugged her and then stepped back as she’d warned me to before the service began. As I did, she reached down and slapped the bronze chair she’d been sitting on. It began to rumble and shake. Then she straightened and threw the cloak from her shoulders. The stoop was gone from her stance and the grey was gone from her hair. It was as if the years written on her form had been nothing but an illusion.

“My time in this mortal world is at an end,” she called out in a ringing voice, as the bronze chair unfolded itself into Festus, the bronze dragon. She leapt onto Festus’s back as the automaton rose. They flew into the sky and none of us ever saw her again.

EPILOGUE

Report of Jake Olson, son of Ares, submitted June 15, 2288

“I am the last surviving member of my quest. While we were returning from a battle with a contingent of rogue centaurs in the Outer Banks, our ship was sunk by a kraken. When the ship was pulled down, I thought I would drown, but I woke up on a tropical island. I saw a young girl there, I mean she looked young, but her face was kind of careworn. She said her name was Calypso, and that she would take care of me until I got better. I remembered hearing the old stories, like the Odyssey and when Percy Jackson met her, and I kind of worried, because I thought she would like, you know, fall in love with me, but she must have seen my face, because she started laughing and said, “That’s not how it works any more.” 

Instead, she just kind of mothered me, you know, like made sure I got enough rest and ate properly. She made me stew and stuff. She also fed me this really good seven-layer dip. She said she learned how to make it from one of her mentors. Oh yeah, and she gave me a sweater that she’d made for me. Then, after about a week, she said I was well enough to leave, and the next thing I knew, I was on this boat.”

Reported by camper Jake Olson of the Ares cabin, who, six month after his quest had been declared lost with no survivors, was found in the canoe lake, floating on a boat powered by a motor made entirely of pipe cleaners and rubber bands.


End file.
